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Arrow Round Table: Diversions

There was plenty of action on Arrow Season 4 Episode 21 as Team Arrow fought the clock to stop Darhk's plan to destroy the world.

Felicity called on her dad, Noah Kuttler, to help out, but together they still couldn't stop all of the missiles. Thousands of people died, but millions were saved when Felicity diverted the one missile they couldn't stop completely. How will Felicity deal with the aftermath? And what's Darhk's next step now that he no longer controls the world's nuclear arsenal?

Join in the discussion by sharing your thoughts in the comments below!

What did you think of the fight scenes this hour and which one was your favorite?

Kelly: My favorite fight scene was Ollie in the stairwell in a leather jacket and black hat. It was a nice change of pace from always seeing him in his Arrow outfit.

Jim: Agreed, Kelly, that was a lot of fun to watch. I also liked Thea in street clothes, again it was a nice change of pace.

Meg: They always do the fight scenes really well. Even when the story is a little blah, the fights are always good. I always liked Laurel's fights the best. With that said, I don't actually think there was a fight that stood out to me in this hour.

Kathleen: I'm with Meg; even when the writing is off, the fight scenes are always great. I've been a fan of Arrow's fight coordinator, James Bamford, since his work on Stargate: Atlantis. My favorite was definitely Oliver taking out those poor security guards in the stairwell.

What did you think of Donna butting into Lance's business?

Kelly: She's his girlfriend so it made sense that she would be in his business. Plus she kept him honest and honor Laurel by saying he knew she was the Black Canary and she helped the city.

Jim: As a married man, I didn't see it as butting all that much. If they are going to build a life together, these are the things they can't keep from each other.

Meg: It was a little nosy but felt in character. They are so darn cute. Out of all of the couples on the show, these two feel the most like a legit couple.

Kathleen: If Lance had submitted the affidavit in its original form, he would probably have hated himself afterwards. How could he respect himself after lying about his daughter and her efforts to protect the city, despite her actions being outside the law? Donna's interference was loving and well-meaning, and she was there to hold his hand and nudge him in the right direction.

How will Felicity deal with the fact that while the missile diversion saved millions, it still killed thousands?

Kelly: It's Felicity so she won't handle it well but in the grand scheme of things, she did all that she could do.

Jim: I'm hoping she uses the guilt she is feeling to help her retake Palmer Tech. Then she could hopefully find a little peace in offering the implant for free.

Meg: That was such a tough call. I think the guilt of her playing God (if God was a hacker) will be really hard for her.

Kathleen: It's a heavy burden for anyone to carry, let alone Felicity. I'm reminded of a conversation from one of my favorite series, Babylon 5, when G'kar confronted Delenn about her silence in regards to the return of an ancient enemy, and Delenn explained with deep emotion about the choice she had faced between the death of millions, and the death of billions, of whole planets.

Felicity might have saved the world, but that's cold comfort as you lay awake in the middle of the night. They still have to have a final showdown with Darhk, so I suspect she may be able to put aside her immediate feelings of guilt. Later, after everything is said and done, however, she's going to have a lot of soul-searching to do.

What will Thea do now that Alex is dead?

Kelly: Probably move even further into the background. This show has proven that they don't know what to do with female characters outside of romantic relationships.

Jim: Ouch, Kelly... true, but ouch all the same... I hope she's able to step-up and contribute more, but that hasn't been the pattern so far.

Meg: Thea can't really catch a break in the love department. I think she needs to take some time to figure her life out.

Kathleen: Poor Thea. I hope that she finds a way to come to terms with this without succumbing to darkness; for one thing, that would have a been-there-done-that flavor. That said, can someone please kill Malcolm Merlyn once and for all? I love John Barrowman, but the cockroach has to die.

Darhk no longer has control of the missiles; how do you think he's going to accomplish his goal of destroying the world?

Kelly: Who knows, but someone like him always has a back-up plan.

Jim: No idea, but as Kelly said, he's bound to have a backup plan (or two)

Meg: The creeps always find a way. I am sure he will gain control again somehow, but the Arrow team will find a way to shut it down. I hope that they can still keep Darhk around. He is such a great character who hasn't really been utilized this season. I want to see more of him.

Kathleen: Maybe he'll use the power he gained from the deaths of thousands to cause some sort of magic-induced apocalypse. Maybe erupt every volcano in the world simultaneously? That would certainly be world-ending.

What was your favorite part of the hour? Any other thoughts you'd like to share?

Kelly: I don't have a favorite part of the hour. This wasn't the best episode of Arrow so I kind of only half watched it.

Jim: Only thing that really stood out for me was Donna and Lance. Him changing his statement to keep it honest and not loose Donna or what Laurel was doing was nice to see.

Meg: I would say anything with Donna. She is the bright spot right now. The rest of plot is dragging for me. I reallllllly want to be done with island flashbacks now. Please?

Kathleen: Like Jim and Meg, I really enjoyed Donna and Lance together, especially her calling him out on his lie on the affidavit. On another note, I have a big problem with the whole "nuke the world" plan. The countdown left our heroes with many hours to figure out a solution. My problem is with all those ninnies from the various militaries around the world who were apparently sitting on their hands while someone was hijacking their nukes.

For HOURS. And didn't even, I don't know, find a way to manually disable their missiles? Remove the payload from the missiles? Smash a tail fin to prevent them from flying straight? Disconnect the power to kill the network intrusion? SOMETHING? And did the United States forget about any possible countermeasures when the nuke went flying toward Monument Point? Why were our heroes the only people doing a gosh-darn thing to prevent the end of the world?!